Idioms for wear
- to diminish; weaken: My patience is wearing thin.
- to become less appealing, interesting, tolerable, etc.: childish antics that soon wore thin.
wear thin,
Origin of wear
before 900; (v.) Middle English
weren to have (clothes) on the body, waste, damage, suffer waste or damage, Old English
werian; cognate with Old Norse
verja, Gothic
wasjan to clothe; (noun) late Middle English
were act of carrying on the body, derivative of the v.; akin to Latin
vestis clothing (see
vest)
OTHER WORDS FROM wear
wear·er, noun re·wear, verb, re·wore, re·worn, re·wear·ing.Words nearby wear
British Dictionary definitions for wear down (1 of 4)
wear down
verb (adverb)
to consume or be consumed by long or constant wearing, rubbing, etc
to overcome or be overcome gradually by persistent effort
British Dictionary definitions for wear down (2 of 4)
Wear
/ (wɪə) /
noun
a river in NE England, rising in NW Durham and flowing southeast then northeast to the North Sea at Sunderland. Length: 105 km (65 miles)
British Dictionary definitions for wear down (3 of 4)
wear
1
/ (wɛə) /
verb wears, wearing, wore or worn
noun
Derived forms of wear
wearer, nounWord Origin for wear
Old English
werian; related to Old High German
werien, Old Norse
verja, Gothic
vasjan
British Dictionary definitions for wear down (4 of 4)
wear
2
/ (wɛə) /
verb wears, wearing, wore or worn
nautical
to tack by gybing instead of by going through stays
Word Origin for wear
C17: from earlier
weare, of unknown origin
Idioms and Phrases with wear down (1 of 2)
wear down
Diminish, weaken, or tire by relentless pressure, as in The heels of these shoes are quite worn down, or Her constant nagging about getting a new car wore down his resistance. [First half of 1800s]
Idioms and Phrases with wear down (2 of 2)
wear